The Branders: Love is Thicker than Blood
by PhilLeeGirl
Summary: A Nancy/Phil AU story about family.
1. 1041 Beginning Tour of Duty

This is the start of an AU story that is so far off on timeline and storyline that it is only a "The District" fanfic because it is borrowing those characters. In order for this universe to work with another universe that I crossed these characters over into, the show needs to have taken place in the early/mid '90's. So, this story take place in about 1997, which means for this universe Nancy found out about her Huntington's disease in 1995 and Ella Farmer died about the same time. Also, Nancy never took the promotion to Detective in this series, but she does work closely with Debreno and Temple as needed.

* * *

"Chief? Debreno said you wanted to see me when I got in?"

Metro Police Chief Jack Mannion looked up from the report he was writing and smiled fondly at his former assist, "Yeah, how's Mrs. Nancy Brander today?"

Moving into the office, the redhead's gold-green eyes twinkled and her ruddy skin blushed across her high cheekbones, contrasting nicely with her blue uniform, "I'm good, Chief, really good."

"That's excellent. The honeymoon was good, then," the chief stood and rounded the desk. Jack Mannion was a throwback to a different generation, making suits that were last fashionable in 1952 look like something from Ermenegildo Zegna. He was a tall, lean man with an aire of authority and mischief about him. When his grey eyes sparkled, you could never be sure if you were being pulled into his office for punishment or inclusion in the latest scheme or punishment by inclusion in the latest scheme.

Nancy Brander, nee Parras, smiled as she smoothed a piece of her long red hair back into her tight French twist. She was slightly embarrassed talking with her boss about her honeymoon, but then he was the one that had arranged for her and her new husband to spend a week and a half away from their respective Metro Police duties and in the city of Nashville. "It was lovely. Thanks for getting Phil and I the time off together, sir."

"Not a problem, Nance," Mannion leaned towards her and kissed her cheek. "I couldn't let you two go on separate honeymoons. I'm just really sorry that we had to send Phil to a different precinct, but it wouldn't work to have you both here at headquarters."

Nancy nodded, "Honestly, when we decided to get married, we flipped a coin to see who would have to leave the force."

"Who won?"

"Well," Nancy laughed softly, "Phil did, but he'd already talked to his cousin and was going to work with him in the exterminating business if one of us had to leave the force."

Mannion wrapped an arm around Nancy's shoulders as he led her out to her desk, "He loves you."

"Yes, sir. And I love him, very much."

* * *

Phil Brander loved his job… most days, but this wasn't one of those days. First day working out of a new precinct and his first call had to be a domestic. He hated domestics. And this? This wasn't just a domestic. No, this was a murder/suicide domestic, even worse.

Plus, now it meant that he had to deal with detectives. Phil wasn't a fan of detectives mainly because he so desperately wanted to be one, but, unfortunately, he always froze when taking the exam. Phil definitely wasn't dumb, but was had just never been good at the whole test taking thing. The detectives at headquarters had finally figured this out and had come to like and appreciate him, but these 'guys' didn't know him from Adam and he suspected that they were going to look down at him. Still, he'd do his job and do it well.

With his new partner as backup, Phil began to methodically clear the apartment, making sure that there wasn't another suspect. Not that the guy with the .45 in his mouth with no back to his head in the living left much doubt as to what happened.

Opening the door to what he assumed was a closet, Phil felt his breath catch. This tiny closet had been turned into a makeshift bedroom. There was a ratty pile of blankets for a bed and a couple of big flashlights for lamps. The few yard sale toys indicated that it was a child's 'room.'

"Aw, man, is that what I think it is," his partner, a green kid named, sadly, David Davison, asked from behind.

"Yeah," Phil shook his head. "Who'd do this to a kid?"

"Same type of guy would shot his wife in the leg and chest," David replied.

Phil swung to look at him, a light bulb practically appearing over Phil's head as his blue eyes lit up, "He shot her in the leg. You don't shoot to kill by aiming for the leg. He was after the kid and she protected her child. Start looking for the kid."

"Boy or girl?"

Phil looked back into the pathetic excuse of a bedroom. Most of the blankets were blue and there were a few battered match box cars on the floor. "Boy."

"Right," David scurried off to check out the rest of the tenement apartment, but Phil moved further into the closet.

Phil Brander was a big man with a fair sized girth. The tight squeeze of the closet made him feel slightly claustrophobic, but he carefully lowered himself next to the blankets. The pile seemed just a little too big, even though it was perfectly still. Slowly, he pulled back blanket after blanket until a mop of dirty, red hair emerged. Again, his heart constricted. The hair was the same shade as his wife's and the tear filled eyes that looked up at him were her shade as well.

"Mommy gots hurted," the little boy cried. "Don't let Daddy hurted me, policer man."

"I promise, he'll never hurt you again," Phil cautiously reached for the boy, intent on looking for any wounds, but suddenly his arms were filled with four year old, redheaded boy and his shirt was being dampened by salty baby tears.

* * *

"Crap."

"What," Kevin Debreno looked up from the reports he was reading to look across the room at his sometimes partner.

Nancy sighed, shook her head and punched a few keys on her computer. Standing to cross the work station where the shredder and printer/copier stood, she waved a stack of paper at Debreno, "For the last two months, I've been signing my name 'Nancy Brander' and having to redo reports cause it wasn't legally my name yet. Guess what I just signed this report?"

"Um, Nancy Parras," Debreno smiled as he leaned back to watch her angrily stuff the first report into the shredder. Lacing his hands behind his head, he asked, "So what is it like being married to Phil? I mean, I still can't see you guys together."

"Why?"

Debreno at least had the courtesy to look embarrassed, "Well, you got to admit, Phil certainly doesn't look your type. I mean… Well, Phil's a great guy, but…"

Nancy stared at the detective as he trailed off. Sure, Phil wasn't the most physically attractive guy (he's blond hair was dramatically thinning and he was larger than he should have been), but he was the kindest, funniest, most loving man that Nancy had ever meant. She really didn't care about his hair and when he held her, his size made her feel small, lady-like and like something to be protected. As a police officer, she didn't get to feel like that often and liked it.

Shaking her head, she headed off to her desk again. Kevin Debreno was never going to understand her relationship with Phil. Debreno wasn't gorgeous, but he was classically handsome. He was tall and thin with a Roman nose that had suffered a break at some point that gave it character and a square jaw with a slight cleft. He was dark haired and dark eyed with a slightly brooding personality that drove some women wild. The biggest problem was that Debreno knew he was good looking, knew he appealed to women, and he just came off smug sometimes. He'd let Nancy know on several occasions that he'd be more than happy to fall into bed with her, but she could never imagine him falling into love with her. Still, his pain over losing contact with his step-daughters after his divorce did prove that he was human and capable of love. That was probably why she felt so close to him. Outside of her husband, Police Officer Ray Cutter and Detective Kevin Debreno were probably her closest friends.

"You know you're an idiot sometimes, right, Debreno," she softened the rude remark with a smile.

Debreno smiled in return, "Only sometimes?"

"Mostly," she laughed. The phone ringing on her desk stopped any further discussion as she scoped up the receiver, "Officer Brander…. Are you okay?... Okay, I'll be there as soon as I can. Love you."

"Everything okay," Debreno asked as Nancy quickly gathered up her things.

Her head shook, "Phil's at the hospital. He… He found a little boy and the kid won't let anyone near him except Phil."

"So what does Phil think you can do to help him?"

Nancy shrugged, "I'm not sure, but I think he needs a hand. I need to talk to the Chief."

* * *

Nancy paused outside the exam room that the ER nurse had pointed her towards. In an odd and slightly ironic twist of fate, the room Phil and the little boy were in was the very room where she had learned of the disease that lurked normally silently within her, Huntington's. It was also in that room when Phil wrapped his strong arms around her and held her as she cried that she realized she returned the love he felt for her. That was two years previous and now they were married looking forward to a happy and hopefully long life together, even with the reality of what the Huntington's Disease would do to her.

Taking a breath, she pushed open the door and stepped into the room. The sight before her made her smile brilliantly. Phil was laying in the hospital bed with a little redheaded boy laying on his stomach, his head tucked under Phil's chin. They were watching the TV on the wall across from the bed and laughing at an old episode of "Dukes of Hazard."

"Got room in that bed for me," Nancy asked, pulling both their attentions away from the screen.

The little boy's eyes got huge and he let out a small whimper as he rolled over and buried his head in Phil's chest.

Phil smiled briefly at his wife before soothing a hand down the boy's head and back, "Johnny, it's okay, Johnny. This is my wife. She's a police officer, too, but she's just here to visit me and meet you."

Johnny sniffed as he peaked his head out of Phil's chest.

"Hi, Johnny," Nancy smiled as she slowly came near the bed. "I'm Nancy."

Johnny's mouth twitched several times before finally opening, "Hi. Daddy can no hurted me again."

"I know, sweetheart," Nancy could feel her heart breaking for the child.

"Oftifer Phil said you had hair like me and you do. Daddy hated my hairs cause they were red and his and Mommy were brown. I like your hairs," the little boy rolled back over, obviously accepting her presence in the room. "Dos you like 'Duck 'n Hazzward'? Theys gots a flying car."

Nancy giggled slightly, "I do like 'Dukes of Hazard.' Do you think I could watch with you and Officer Phil?"

"Sure, we's gots room," he tried to pat the bed, but couldn't reach from his position.

Toeing off her shoes, Nancy crawled carefully into the bed between the rail and Phil. Phil's arm wound around her and squeezed gently. She tucked her head on his shoulder and brought a hand up to run over Johnny's filthy hair, "Johnny, I bet if your hair was washed it would like even more like mine. Think we could wash it?"

"Sure," Johnny nodded. "Can wait til the show gone?"

"Of course, sweetheart."

Phil kissed her forehead, "I knew you could do it. I've been trying to get him to let the nurses bath him for three hours."

"Redheads stick together," Nancy whispered back. "We'll have to wash him, but we'll get a nurse and children services in to make sure everything is okay."

Phil nodded and wrapped his arm around them both a little tighter.

As the trio laid there watching the exploits of Bo and Luke Duke, similar thoughts raced through Nancy and Phil's minds. Thoughts about how, if it weren't for the Huntington's, this could be them cuddled with their child. But Huntington's was a genetic disease and they had long since determined that children were out of the question as they dreaded passing a chronic and fatal illness to their child.

* * *

Nancy could feel Phil's eyes on her as she towel dried her hair. A glance in the bathroom mirror proved that he was sitting on the edge of their bed watching her with a thoughtful expression. Hanging her towel over the rack for use in the morning, she made her way to Phil. As she neared him, he pulled her to him and kissed the skin on her stomach that she had scrubbed red and raw in the shower. Her arms wrapped around his shoulders as she laid her cheek against the top of his head.

It had been a horrible night. They had finally gotten Johnny to agree to a bath only to discover his small body covered in bruises and bug bites. At least twice Nancy had to actually leave the room as Phil and a nurse carefully washed him, but she had made it through washing his hair as Johnny had asked. They had stayed until he fell asleep and until the woman from Children Services told them that they needed to leave so that Johnny won't get too attached. The problem being that they had already grown attached themselves.

"Do you think he'll be okay," Nancy whispered into the quiet, darkened room.

Phil sighed, a wave of hot breath rippling across his wife's stomach, "I'm not sure. I called Detective Westing and he said that they've found absolutely no evidence of any family. The next door neighbor, who was a friend of the mother, told them that his parents had both grown up in the system and had no family."

"God," a tear escaped her eye and rolled down her cheek into Phil's hair. "That poor little boy. He's going to get tossed into the same system that failed his parents and there is nothing we can do about it."

"That's not necessarily true."

"Phil?"

Phil pushed her back just enough so that he could look her in the eyes, "What would you think of becoming foster parents? Johnny's foster parents. I know we said we weren't going to have kids, but, Nance, think of all the love and care and advantages we could give him."

Nancy blinked a few times trying to clear the tears in her eyes, "Phil, we haven't even been married a month. Are you sure you want to bring a child into our home? It will bring a rather sudden end to the honeymoon period of our marriage."

"Nance," he reached up and gently wiped a fallen tear from her cheek, "our honeymoon will never be over. And, yes, I'm sure I want to do this. Holding the two of you tonight I felt more complete than I'd ever felt in my life. It was like all the pieces came together, like we were a family."

Nancy nodded. She had felt the same thing laying there stroking the boy's head and listening to the sound of Phil's heartbeat under her ear. "Okay," she whispered with a smile before kissing him with enough force that they toppled onto the bed.


	2. 1023 Arrived at Scene

Nancy Brander missed Ella Farmer. She always missed Ella, but the last couple of weeks she ached for her friend. Ella had been through this before when she had fostered and then adopted Ricky. She would know all the shortcuts and best practices to deal with the red tape needed to get Nancy and Phil approved as foster parents. Chief Jack Mannion and District Attorney Vanessa Cavanaugh had stepped in and helped Nancy and Phil overcome some of the more difficult portions of the forms. DA Cavanaugh had also helped them with the interviews with Children Services. She had been the one to suggest an adjustment to the Brander's apartment.

It was another thing that Ella would have been able to help them with: the details of converting their brand new two bedroom apartment into something more child friendly. Fortunately, they did have help with the apartment. When Nancy's partner Officer Ray Cutter heard what they hoped to attempt, he had volunteered to help shift the clutter that had been shoved into the second bedroom when Nancy cleared out her apartment a few days before the wedding. The accumulated junk from that bedroom now inhabited part of Nancy's parent's garage and a storage closet at Phil's cousin's exterminating business.

Now two weeks after they had decided to try to become foster parents for little Johnny Wells, the second bedroom was painted a deep Wedgewood blue and a boarder of antique muscle cars had been added. Officer David Davison had also pitched in and salvaged a red race car bed from his cousin, whose son had decided he was too old for the kiddie bed. A whitewashed pine bedroom suite and toy chest completed the room and created an accidental, but pleasant Red, White and Blue motif. The room was ready and now the final approval had come through so that Johnny could enjoy it.

* * *

"Ofiter Phil… Ofiter Nan," Johnny ran towards them, his arm outstretched and a broad smile on his face.

Phil easily caught the little boy and swung him up onto a hip, so the boy could also hug Nancy's neck.

Nancy kissed the small cheek as she rubbed his back, "Hey, Johnny. You being a good boy?"

"Uh huh, I being real good. Missus Tammy say I might be going to a real home soon. Will you come saw me," Johnny babbled happily as they moved into the living room of the group house.

Sitting on one of the couches Nancy allowed the little boy to crawl into her lap, "Actually, that's why Officer Phil and I are here today. Johnny, what would you think about coming home with us?"

Johnny squinted at Nancy, "Like to play?"

"No, sweetie," Nancy brushed back a wayward curl from the child's forehead, "I mean how would you like to come home with us to live."

"Forever," his gold-green eyes sparkled with excitement.

Phil brushed the back of his hand against Johnny's cheek, "We hope so, bud. For right now we're going to be your foster parents, but hopefully it will be forever."

"So, what do you think about that," Nancy asked softly.

"Yay," Johnny wrapped his arms around their necks as he tugged them towards him in a hug surprisingly strong for a boy his size.

* * *

Johnny stood in the door of the room, his eyes roaming over corner and surface. His mouth was slightly ajar and his eyes incredibly wide.

"Don't you like your room, Johnny," Phil asked worriedly as he knelt in front of the child.

Johnny blinked and looked at Phil, "Where yous sweep?

"We sleep in our own room. It is right down the hall. If you need us, you just go down and knock on the door," Phil explained.

"Den who I sare wit?"

"No one, sweetie," Nancy laughed as she also kneeled next to Phil and Johnny, "this is your room. You don't have to share with anyone."

Johnny looked confused, "It too big."

"You don't like it," Nancy felt tears pricking at the corner of her eyes, disappointment that they already failed their little boy.

"Where I's sweep," Johnny was still confused as his eyes searched the room for something.

Phil stood, picking the boy up, and walked to the race car bed, "This is where you sleep, Johnny. In your very own, very special car bed."

"Oh." Johnny still looked confused until Phil lowered him to the soft sheets and comfy mattress, then a smile blossomed across his face as he bounced a few times, "My bed. My bed."

Nancy crossed the room and hugged him, "That's right, sweetheart. It's your bed. Do you like it?"

"Yay," Johnny wrapped his arms around their necks as he tugged them towards him in a hug surprisingly strong for a boy his size.

* * *

Nancy Brander missed Ella Farmer. She always missed Ella, but the last couple of weeks she ached for her friend. Ella had been through this before when she had fostered and then adopted Ricky. Ella would have had advice about what do to help Johnny sleep in his new bed. Almost every morning they found Johnny curled in a blanket on the closet floor. She would have known how to help the little boy deal with his fear of the big (to his eyes at least) and empty room.

Fortunately Phil stumbled upon the solution one day when he returned home with a contraption of PVC and nylon. Johnny watched with interest as Nancy and Phil removed the mattress from the bed and laid it directly on the floor. Next, they put this thing over the mattress and suddenly an oddly shaped police car appeared. The bed tent created a small, safer place for Johnny to sleep and the next morning when they went to wake in up he was still curled happily in his bed.

Now two months after getting the bed tent, they had finally been able to ease Johnny into sleeping in the race car bed. Although some mornings they would find him curled in the bed tent, they never found him in the closet. It took time, but Johnny learned to love and enjoy his big, filled with toys room.


	3. 1061 Juvenilla Action

Author's Notes: The judge's name is the name of the judge that Lynn Thigpen played on Law and Order and the Lawyer is Lynne (obvious) Metayer (means Farmer in French).

* * *

Johnny, who now liked to be called Jack or Jacky, Wells sat on the hard wooden bench outside the courtroom swinging his legs. His suit was brand new and itched. Unlike his Easter suits, this suit was dark blue with long pants and made of wool and he was beginning to hate it. His hand crept up to tug on his collar, but his 'Uncle' Ray noticed and shook his head.

Dropping his hand, Jack sighed, "How much longer?"

"I don't know, buddy. It shouldn't be too much longer. Mama and Papa have been in there for about twenty minutes, so it should be your turn soon," Ray Cutter smiled, trying to reassure the boy. He was merely rewarded with another sigh and Jack's head dropping against his side. Ray smiled down at the top of the red head and wrapped an arm around the boy. They sat like that for a few minutes until the door across from them opened and Nancy and Phil Brander and their lawyer emerged.

Jack scampered off the bench and towards his foster parents, "Mama, Papa, are we done yet?"

"Not quite, sweetheart," Nancy crouched in front of the boy. "The judge would like to talk to you now."

"Are you comin' wif me," Jack nervously chewed his lip.

"Coming with," Nancy automatically corrected and waited for Jack to correctly repeat the words. Jack's unfortunate formative years had done little to affect his growth as nearly weekly he was out growing his pants or shoes and his spirit as he was a happy and energetic child. However, his speech had been affected. Phil and Nancy had been advised to work on his speech and over the last two years it had become a habit to adjust his speech to the proper pronunciation. And Jack would, for the most part, patiently repeat the words until he got them right.

Jack took a breath and repeated, "Are you coming with me?"

"No, sweetie. Papa and I have to stay out here with Uncle Ray, but Ms. Metayer will be with you. Okay," Nancy hugged and kissed Jack when he nodded his head solemnly.

When Nancy released Jack, Phil shook his head and crooked a finger at the boy, "Mama got lipstick on you." Phil used his handkerchief to wipe the red smudge from Jack's forehead, "Don't be nervous, okay, buddy? No matter what Mama and I love you, got it."

"Got it," Jack hugged his Papa's legs before turning to take the lawyer's hand and heading into the judge's chambers.

Jack gripped the lawyer's hand as they walked into large office. The dark wood lining the room and the massive bookcases were intimidating, but the woman sitting behind the desk was smiling warmly and stood as they entered the room. Sitting in one of the chairs in front of her desk, she held out her hand, "Hi, I'm Judge Ida Boucher. You must be Johnny Wells."

"Kinda."

The judge tilted her head to look up at the lawyer, "Kinda?"

Jack answered before the lawyer could, "Johnny Wells is my real name, but I like to be called Jack Brander cause my Mama and Papa are Branders and Jack is better than Johnny."

"Why is Jack better than Johnny," Judge Boucher asked, now beginning to understand a little more.

"Cause," Jack spoke like it was obvious, "Johnny was what my first Daddy called me and my first Daddy didn't love me. Well, he didn't love me like my Papa loves me. Papa Phil calls me Jack. He loves me. He only yells at me when I'm very bad and he tells me bedtime stories and watches cartoons with me. I think my Papa Phil likes me; my first daddy didn't. And, it's like my Grappy Jack, he's the boss of the police. So, Jack is better than Johnny."

The judge smiled, "Now I understand. Are you happy with the Branders?"

"Oh, yeah! I've's got a great big room and wots of toys and Mama is a pretty good cook, but she sometimes burns fings and that makes Papa waugh. Mama and Papa awmost never fight, but fey waugh a lot," Jack stopped suddenly and started speaking more slowly. "Mama would tell me to slow down and say my words better. I've got problems with L's and th's, but we're working on it."

"Mama and you?"

Jack nodded, "And Papa and Uncle Ray and Grappy Jack and Uncle Davey and… kinda everybody in our family."

"Well," Judge Boucher held out both her hands and Jack automatically took them, "it sounds like you have a very lovely family. I'm very happy to tell you that you're going to be with them for a very long time, too."

"Forever?"

She smiled brightly, "Yes, Jack, forever. You can tell Mama and Papa that I'm going to happily sign the adoption papers."

"Mrs. Judge, can I ask a favor," Jack asked, his face an earnest plea.

"Of course," she let a small laugh escape at the form of address.

Jack quickly climbed into her lap and whispered something in her ear.

When he pulled back she nodded at him and gave him a small hug, "I think we can do that. Now, run out and tell Mama and Papa the good news."

She didn't have to tell him twice for the little boy to scamper from the room.

"What did he want," Lynne Metayer asked as soon as the door shut behind him.

Ida Boucher stood and walked back behind her desk, "He wants the certificate to read 'Jack Brander' not John or Johnny Brander. Think his parents will go for it?"

Lynne nodded, "Yeah, they've been trying to cast off any reminders of his former life for a very long time. I think that would be perfect. A new name, a new life."

"Okay," Ida put pen to paper and signed with a flourish. "Tell the Branders to have a very happy life."

"Oh, they will," Lynne smiled as she took the certificate out to present to the new, legal, forever family.


	4. 1060 InjuryIllness

"What is it?"

Kevin Debreno shook his head as he looked at his partner, "Temple, man, please tell me you didn't just ask that."

"Okay, I didn't mean 'what is it.' I meant 'who is it.' And," Temple Page gestured to the tiny infant in Debreno's arms, "more importantly what are you doing with it?"

Debreno glanced sadly down at the baby, "She was left at University Hospital a few weeks back. Part of the Safe Haven Project."

"So, we just let her mother abandon her kid and we do nothing about it," Page growled at he dropped into his chair, disgusted and annoyed.

"What do you suggest we do," Nancy Brander came into the squad room carrying a bottle and with a diaper bag over her shoulder. Dropping the bag on Debreno's desk, she motioned for him to hand over the baby, which he did somewhat reluctantly.

"How about we find the mother and make her take responsibility for her child?"

Nancy looked up from the happily feeding baby and glared at him, "Yes, brilliant idea. How about you run and find the, most likely, teenage girl that gave birth to this baby and then allowed someone to or actually did beat this five week old so severely that she's lost her hearing. Then, if she isn't beaten to death before then, maybe another cop can find her living in her own filth in a pile of blankets when she's four. How's that for a plan?" With that Nancy repositioned the baby in one arm and flung the diaper bag back over her shoulder as she marched off towards Chief Mannion's office.

"So," Debreno chuckled slightly as he flopped into his now vacate desk chair, "how do your size tens taste?"

Page shook his head, "The baby's deaf?"

"Yeah. According to Nance, the doc isn't sure how she even survived the beating. Whoever did it hit her on the back of the head hard enough to burst the both the left and right cochlear nucleus."

"Brain damage?"

Debreno sighed and looked towards where Nancy had carried the baby, "Really too early to tell, but according to the MRI's the only area effected was there."

"How does a person do that to a baby," Page's eyes drifted to where Debreno was watching Nancy through the blinds into the Chief's office. "So, what's Nancy doing with the baby?"

"Seriously, did you pass the detective's exam?"

Page looked at his partner in totally confusion, but before he could respond the redheaded whirlwind known as Jack Brander ran up to their desks.

"Hey, Uncle Temple," he waved at the younger detective while fling himself into Debreno's arms. "Uncle Kev, didcha hear? I'm getting a little sister. Hopefully, a permanent, for real, forever little sister. Not like the foster kids that lived with us before for a few weeks or months, but a real sister."

Debreno squeezed the ten-year-old, "I heard. You are going to make an awesome big brother."

"You better believe it," Phil Brander winked at his son as he joined them at the desk. Setting the baby carrier down on top of Page's in box, he asked, "Where's Nance?"

"Chief's office. Temple opened mouth and inserted foot. Her temper matched her hair at that moment," Debreno explained with a chuckle.

Phil laughed as well, "Nance with a temper? I can't imagine it."

"That better not be sarcasm I hear in your voice, oh husband of mine," Nancy's voice was teasing as she appeared behind him.

"Of course," Phil turned and kissed her quickly and softly on the lips. "You wouldn't be nearly as much fun without your temper. How she doing?"

Nancy smiled down at the baby, whose cheek Phil was gently stroking, "Good. She took her bottle and doesn't seem to be in any pain. And she was smiling at the Chief a minute ago, but I think she's ready for a nap now."

"Think she'll want to suck on my finger while she sleeps like she did the other day," Jack asked as he moved between his parents and rested his forefinger against the palm of her tiny hand.

Immediately her small fingers wrapped around his as her head turned to look at him. As impossible as it seemed, it was as if she recognized Jack and smiled slightly before pulling his finger to her mouth and sucking as her eyes fell closed.

Leaning over to kiss Jack's head, Nancy smiled, "I guess she will. You might be stuck that way for awhile."

"That's okay," Jack shrugged, never taking his eyes off the baby.

With a bit of maneuvering and Phil's help, Nancy was able to place the baby in the carrier without waking her and without making Jack remove his finger from her grasp. Nancy was tucking the soft pink blanket around the little girl when Page's voice made her stop.

"Nancy, I'm sorry. I never gave it a thought that you might be planning on fostering her."

Nancy looked up at him sadly, "We're not planning of fostering her, Temple. We're planning on adopting her. The papers have been filed. We just need to wait out the mandatory period."

"But…" he trailed off.

"But, what," Phil asked with a small glare.

Page sighed, "She's black."

Nancy blinked at the man she considered an old friend, "Does that bother you? Do you think she'd be better off with an African American family?"

"No… Yes…. I don't know. I just never thought that you and Phil would want a black baby."

Phil sighed, "We don't want 'a black baby,' Temple. We want this baby. We want Ella."

"Ella," Page repeated confused.

Nancy turned the carrier, forcing Jack to move so that he was standing right next to Page's side, "Temple Page, meet Ella Mae Brander. She's named after the best and strongest woman that Phil and I were privileged to ever know. She's also named after a proud African American woman and, hopefully, that is what she'll grow up to be."

"Ella Mae," Page repeated again this time he reached out to run a finger over her brow and down her cheek. Their skin tones were almost a perfect match.

Jack looked up at his 'uncle,' "Uncle Temple, it doesn't matter what color she is. We love her and she's now a part of our family. Besides, Grappy Jack always says we have a colorful family."

Page laughed as he one-arm hugged the boy to his side, "That's right, Jacky. That is absolutely right and Uncle Kevin's right. You're going to make an awesome big brother."


	5. 105 Transport

Jack Brander was bundled up to play in the snow that had fallen between New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, but he wasn't playing just staring at the snow covered ground. Jack Mannion had watched the boy sitting on the back steps for almost ten minutes before her decided to go talk to the child. He eased his long frame down next to Jack and mimicked his position by drawing his knees up to his chest and setting his chin on them. Another few minutes passed before Mannion spoke, "You don't seem like a real happy little boy there, bud. What's up?"

Jack sighed one of those sighed that only children seem capable of mustering up from their toes and rolled his head to look at his 'Grappy', "I liked our apartment. I liked my room. I don't know why we had to move."

"Ah," he uncurled and stretched his long legs to a more comfortable position. "I get it now. You don't like this house?"

"No. I liked our apartment."

"Didn't your apartment only have two bedrooms," Mannion already knew the answer to that question, but he wanted Jack to figure this out for himself.

"Yeah."

"So, two bedrooms, four people. Guess you would have had to shared a room with Ella then, huh?"

"No," Jack shook his head and looked confused, "her crib was in Mama and Papa's room."

"Well, sure for right now. As she got bigger though, I'm sure Mama and Papa would have moved her to your room. After all it is would only be fair to have two people in each room. When you had foster kids living with you guys didn't they share your room?"

"Well, yeah, but they were only ever there for a little while. Ella's going to be with us forever. I don't think I'd want her in my room forever. She drools a lot."

Mannion laughed as he wrapped an arm around the boy's shoulders and pulled him against his side, "She's teething, Jack, but I promise the drooling won't last forever."

"Good. It's kinda gross," Jack snuggled into Mannion's side. "Is this a good house?"

"It's a great house. Best house on solid ground I've ever seen," Mannion reassured with a squeeze.

Jack sighed again from the depths of his being, "Mama and Papa had a fight about it."

Mannion laughed and kissed the top of Jack's head, "I'm sure they did. Look, I've known your parents a whole lot longer than you, so I'm sure that wasn't the first fight you've ever heard them have."

Jack shook his head in the negative, which Mannion took to mean that he had heard his parents fighting before.

"So, you know that they might fight, but they always make up and they always love each other more than anything in the whole wide world. Well, besides you and Ella that is."

"Yeah, I just wish things didn't have to change."

"Hey," Mannion pulled back to look at the boy, "I hate change as much as anybody, but it can be a good thing. Just think, new sister, new house, new school, new year. It is a brand new fresh start. Jack, this is going to be good. You're going to make a ton of new friends and now have the place to play with them," his hand gestured sweepingly to the snow covered backyard. "And do you know what the very best part of this house is?"

Again, Jack shook his head in the negative as he looked up at the older man, "No."

"That."

"The tree," Jack asked following Mannion's finger to where it was pointing at the large oak tree in the backyard.

"Yup," Mannion smiled smugly, "that is the perfect tree house fort tree."

"A tree house fort? Really? That would be so cool. Andy and I used to pretend that our fire escape was a tree house."

"See, now you can have a real one," Mannion bumped Jack's shoulder with his own, "if Mama and Papa say it is okay."

Jack scampered up from his perch on the steps and starting running into the house, "I'm going to ask now." Suddenly, the boy stopped and flew back towards Mannion, throwing his arm around his neck, "Thanks, Grappy Jack. This really is a great house."

It was a couple of moments before Phil Brander moved from the shadow where he'd been watching and listening to his son and his boss talking, "So, do you actually know how to build a treehouse? Cause, I had one as a kid, but my uncle built it."

"I built one for Beth and Jack Jr. when they were kids. Sherry probably remembers the plans," he smiled up at his sergeant.

"Good," Phil returned the smile, "cause as soon as this snow melts, he's going to want his tree house."

Mannion pulled himself up with the handrail and made his way to Phil, "Well, I'll just have to distract him with lots and lots of new toys."

"You spoil him… and Ella," Phil groaned.

"Yup," Mannion wrapped an arm around Phil's shoulders leading them back into the house, "that's my job. So, just for future reference, where is the closest Home Depot?"


	6. 1036 Correct Time

"Thank god you're finally home."

"What's the matter," Nancy Brander immediately felt herself start to panic. "Are the kids okay?"

Phil nodded and took her hand, "They're fine. I was just worried that you weren't going to make it home before midnight."

"Yeah, I'm sorry, I caught a call right before end of shift and I had to deal with it. Phil, where the hell are we going," Nancy asked as she realized he was pulling her through the house and out to the backyard.

"It's a surprise," he turned and smiled at her, but kept pulling until they reached Jack's tree house. Stopping at the base of the ladder, he kissed her quickly, "I know we said we'd celebrate this weekend, but I didn't want today to go by without doing something. So, ladies first."

Looking up the ladder and then at her husband, Nancy smiled, "You remembered."

"Like I could forget about the best day of my life," he reached behind her head and gently removed the clip keeping her hair back. Shaking out her hair with his fingers, he pulled her to him for a deeper kiss. When they broke, he gently swatted her rear, "Go on, get up there."

Quickly climbing the ladder, Nancy gasped when she got high enough to see into the tree house. Jack's toys had all been cleared to one side and small table was set in the middle. The table was draped in one of the tablecloths from their reception and a couple of champagne glasses and an electric candle were arranged on top. Crawling up into the tree house, Nancy realized that instead of chairs there were pillows just like the pillows from the hotel they had honeymooned at.

Making her way to one of the pillows, Nancy sat and waited for Phil to appear a few seconds later, "You really are something, you know that."

"You like, Mrs. Brander," Phil asked, smiling as he sat on the pillow next to her.

Pulling him in for a kiss, she smirked, "I love, Mr. Brander."

When the kiss broke, Phil pulled a bottle of champagne from a silver high hat and pour them both a drink. Passing a glass to Nancy, he raised his glass and toasted, "To us and our imperfectly, perfect marriage."

"To us," Nancy smiled as she clinked her glass against. After taking a drink, she snuggled into his side, "Baby, I'm not trying to ruin your plans or anything, but I'm going to go crazy until I know. Where are the kids?"

Phil chuckled as he pulled the baby monitor from his back pocket, "In the house. I told Jack that I wanted to surprise you, so not only did he help me get all this up here, but he agreed to let Ella sleep in his room tonight. If she starts to cry or he needs us, we'll hear."

Smirking, Nancy shook her head, "Have I told you how much I love you lately?"

"Don't know, but I'll always take the reminder," Phil ran his hand up into her hair as once again their lips melted together.

As midnight approached, the champagne was as forgotten as it had been on their wedding night seven years before.


	7. 107 Out of Service

bTitle/b 10-7 Out of Service

bFandom/b The District

bCharacters/b Phil, Nancy, Jack and Ella Brander and Evelyn Parras

bPrompts/bFor lj user"family15"#7 "Families are like fudge- mostly sweet but with a few nuts" (Author Unknown) and lj user"varietypack100" #93 Thanksgiving

bWord Count/b 1394

bRating/b K+

bSummary/b "They're gone now," he whispered as he kissed the spot just below Nancy's ear.

bAuthor's Notes/b This is an AU story that is so far off on timeline and storyline that it is only a "The District" fanfic because it is borrowing those characters. In order for this universe to work with another universe that I crossed these characters over into, the show needs to have taken place in the early/mid '90's. Which means for this universe Nancy found out about her Huntington's disease in 1995 and Ella Farmer died about the same time. Also, Nancy never took the promotion to Detective in this series, but she does work closely with Debreno and Temple as needed.

philleegirl./71029.html

Phil watched the silent sobs tearing through his wife's body and had to curtail his urge to take his service weapon out of the gun safe and chase after his moronic brothers-in-law. From where he stood in the doorway of their bedroom he could look passed where Nancy lay on the bed and see her face in the mirror on her dresser. Her eyes were squeezed shut, but tears still crept past her lids to roll down her cheeks. Ella, who was curled in her mother's arms, wore a confused expression on her bright and sensitive face as she repeatedly signed "tears" through the wetness on Nancy's cheek.

With a sigh, Phil gave into one of his urges and crossed to the bed to lay down next to his wife. As he molded his body to her back, he wrapped his arms around her and laid one of his hands on Ella's chest. His hand was massive compared to the 14-month old and his fingers could stroke her chin as the heel of his hand ran soothing circles on her stomach. Her tiny arm wrapped around his hand, hugging it to her body as he could feel her relax beneath his fingers. He could tell that she believed that somehow his presence made things better. He hoped that her confidence in her daddy was not misplaced.

"They're gone now," he whispered as he kissed the spot just below Nancy's ear. "Evelyn kicked them out."

"Why," Nancy's voice shook with tears as she spoke.

"Because, it may be our house, but they are her sons and she was more pissed than I've ever seen her and it took a while for your mom to like me."

"No," she gave a slightly sad laugh as she rolled slightly to look at him. "Why would my brothers say those things about our little girl?"

The horrible, racist and vial words that her brothers had spewed like venom at the dining room table during the middle of their Thanksgiving dinner replayed in Phil's head. Nancy had wanted to have a traditional Thanksgiving dinner now that they had a house large enough to hold most of the family, so she had invited her parents, her brothers, and their friends for dinner. Only her parents, her two unmarried brother, Kevin Debreno and Davey Davidson had been able to make it, but still the day had been lovely and happy. Until… Ella had tried reaching for something on her brother's plate and in the process spilled a large glass of ice tea into her Uncle Oliver's lap. Nancy's brother had cried out some absolutely vile things about Ella's race and background. Most shockingly, if Kevin hadn't been sitting right next to Oliver, he would have backhanded the child across her face. Sadly, the argument that erupted between the family members at that point proved to divide them, perhaps permanently, with Oliver and Nancy's other brother Samuel showing their true and ugly colors. Nancy had scooped up Ella and ran to the bedroom before she could see her parents defend her and their family so strongly and beautifully.

Letting the memories fade from his mind, he wrapped his arms tighter around his wife and daughter, "I don't know, Nance. I just don't know."

"I do," Nancy's mother, Evelyn, spoke from the doorway before moving into the room and crossing to sit at her daughter's other side. "They're cretins that's why."

"Mama," Nancy started.

Evelyn shook her head as she smooth her hand over Nancy's hair, "No, don't defend them. Or think that I should defend them either. What they said and did was incomprehensibly wrong and I told them that they aren't welcome here or in our home until they apologize."

Nancy sighed, "You shouldn't have done that, Mama. You need their help with Daddy and the house and things."

"That is what Oliver said, but Kevin and Davey said that they'd be more than willing to help and frankly I think your dad likes Kevin better than Oliver. Besides, in case you haven't noticed or realized, this little one," Evelyn gently lifted the nearly asleep baby from Nancy's arms, "is going to have a very hard time in this life. There are going to be people who hate her because she's black, because she's deaf, because she's got white parents, because she's got cop parents, even because she's beautiful and smart. But, I will not allow those people to be members of my family. Hopefully, time, reason and enough coffee to kill the alcohol in their blood stream will bring them to their senses and we can be a family again, but until then I'm got two sons, two lovely daughters-in-law, a beautiful daughter, a wonderful son-in-law, and five completely amazing grandchildren. All of whom will be at our house for Christmas and there will be no tears. Right?"

Nancy smiled, "Right."

"Good. Well, now that that is settled; Phil, could you help me get Lowell in the car? It has been a very long day and I think he's probably worn out," Evelyn smiled as her son-in-law as she laid a sleeping Ella back in Nancy's arms and kissed both their foreheads.

Phil gave Nancy another quick kiss below the ear and crawled out of the bed, "Not a problem, Evelyn."

Once he was gone, Evelyn sighed, "He is a good man. I'm sorry I didn't see it earlier."

"You and me both, Mama. I better good say good night to Daddy and Kevin and Davy," Nancy started to get up, but found herself being gently pushed back to the mattress.

"No, you stay here and take care of what is really important. I'll tell them all good night for you."

With another couple of kisses Nancy's mother left her laying there pondering the day's events. Growing up, Nancy always believed that if her mother was forced to chose, she would chose to support any or all of her sons over Nancy. Today Evelyn Parris proved her daughter wrong. Very, very wrong. Evelyn Parris loved all her children, but she loved her grandchildren… her adopted, disabled, diverse grandchildren even more. Nancy was honestly amazed and more than a little happy about her mother's reaction.

"Ma?"

Jack's voice brought her out of her thoughts; she rolled her head to look at him standing in the doorway, "Hey, baby."

Jack bit his lip as he looked at his mother, "Are you okay, Mama?"

"Come here," Nancy patted the bed next to her. She had to smile as Jack eagerly scrambled onto the bed and snuggled down in her open arm, "I'm better. Everything is going to be okay. Those things that Uncle Oliver and Uncle Sam said were very mean and hurt me, but they aren't true so they won't hurt for long."

Resting his chin on Nancy's shoulder, he looked up at her, "Know what Grandpa said?"

"I can only imagine," Nancy laughed as she carded her hand through her son's thick red hair.

"He said, 'Families are like fudge- mostly sweet but with a few nuts and we just bit into the nuts.'"

"That sounds like Grandpa," Phil laughed as he came back into the bedroom in time to hear what Jack said.

Nancy smiled up at her husband over the top of their son's head, "And, amazingly, he wasn't talking about us."

"Is there such a thing as a Thanksgiving miracle," Phil winked at her as he crossed to the TV/VCR combo across from the bed. Putting a tape in the machine, he grabbed the remote and made his way back to the bed, "I thought we deserved a treat, so the dishes can wait. Right now, we just need to be a family."

Nancy nodded in agreement as she adjusted the pillows so they were sitting up a little more and handed Ella to her big brother. Jack laid Ella out along his chest so that she was facing the TV and her feet rested on his raised legs. Sitting next to Jack, Phil wrapped a long arm around the boy and Nancy and pulled them as close as they could. By the time the closing credits ran they would all be fast asleep. Not that it would really matter, because they were together and no one, not even crazy mean family members, would ever pull them apart.


	8. 1013 Weather Conditions

bTitle/b 10-13 Weather Conditions

bFandom/b The District

bCharacters/b Phil, Nancy, Jack and Ella Brander

bPrompts/bFor lj user"family15"#8 "Blood is thicker than water" and lj user"varietypack100" #68 Lightening

bWord Count/b 920

bRating/b K+

bSummary/b Although Jack was well aware that he was adopted, he was six at the time after all, and could remember Ella's adoption when he was ten; they never really focused on the differences between biological and adoptive families.

bAuthor's Notes/b This is an AU story that is so far off on timeline and storyline that it is only a "The District" fanfic because it is borrowing those characters. In order for this universe to work with another universe that I crossed these characters over into, the show needs to have taken place in the early/mid '90's. Which means for this universe Nancy found out about her Huntington's disease in 1995 and Ella Farmer died about the same time. Also, Nancy never took the promotion to Detective in this series, but she does work closely with Debreno and Temple as needed.

Lightening flashed across the sky, causing little Ella to burrow her head father into her father's chest. She couldn't hear the low rumbling thunder or the rain that was pounding against the windows, but she could see the lightening and feel the fierceness of the summer storm surrounding the house. The two year old had no problem flying into her parent's room and bed when a particularly bad clap of thunder shook the house and woke her from her light sleep. She had promptly curled up on her daddy's chest and seemed to be attempting to crawl in it with each passing flash.

Jack, on the other hand, was twelve and 'way too brave' to be scared by a little thunderstorm, but when the first few rumbles of thunder had echoed through the house Nancy and Phil knew it wouldn't be long before he found some excuse to make his way to their bedroom.

The sound of rapid footsteps on the hardwood floors reached their ears, Phil smiled at his wife, "Not bad, he made it ten minutes."

"Don't." She sighed, "The day he doesn't come running to us in a thunderstorm is going to break both our hearts."

"True," Phil chuckled softly as Jack's head appeared around the door to the bedroom.

"Ma? Can ask you a question?"

Nancy had to smile at the bravado, trying to mask his fear, in Jack's voice, "Sure, sweetie, but you should be asleep."

"I know, but I couldn't fall asleep," a small falsehood because when Nancy and Phil had check on him before turning in for the night, he was snoring loudly. "So, I was reading and I don't understand something."

Jack had been slowly making his way to the bedside, so Nancy flipped back the covers, "Okay, why don't you and your book cuddle in here?"

Jack didn't have to be asked twice as he scampered onto the bed and over his mother to curl between his parents. The moment of the bed and scent of her brother made Ella lift her head just enough to see Jack. Giving him a weak smile, she grabbed a handful of the sleeve of his pajamas before turning her face back into her daddy's chest.

"Ella's scared of the storm, huh," Jack kissed his sister's head as he curled a little closer to his father.

Phil wrapped his arm around Nancy's shoulders thus pulling both Nancy and Jack closer to his side, "Yeah, well, she's still little and not big and brave like you."

Smiling at the wink that Phil throw her over the boy's head, Nancy reached for his book, "So, what's this word that you don't understand?"

"No, I understand the words, I just don't understand what they mean put together," Jack pointed to the printed page, "'Blood is thicker than water.' I guess that is true, but the character Andrew is saying that he won't leave his sister Vanessa to go with his friends. Why'd he say that, Ma?"

Phil slightly tightened the hold he had on Ella and looked at Nancy with a mixture of annoyance and trepidation.

Although Jack was well aware that he was adopted, he was six at the time after all, and could remember Ella's adoption when he was ten; they never really focused on the differences between biological and adoptive families. Jack's question and the phrase brought it all up.

Snuggling down next to Jack, her hair draped slightly over his head allowing their matching red hairs to seamlessly mingle together, "Jacky, this phrase means that people in your family, the people that share your blood should more important than your friends because they are related to you."

Jack's face scrunched up for a moment in thought, "But, you and Pop always say that our friends, like Uncle Jack and Uncle Ray and Uncle Kev and Uncle Davy, are our family. We don't share blood with them. We don't even share with each other."

"That's true, but we have a special family," Nancy kissed Jack's temple. "Our family is made up of many different types of people and even though we aren't blood related, we love each other. Love is the most important thing."

Another low rumble of thunder shook the house making Ella whimper as she looked up just in time for a flash of lightening lit the room. She let out a cry and dove under the covers. Jack followed immediately and wrapped his arms around her and pulled her gently out from under the covers. He gently soothed her with a hand rubbing up and down her back as he curled her into the tiny space between him and Nancy while he curled into Phil's side.

Phil and Nancy took this as a sign that the safety of their bed, the late hour and the dying storm were lulling Jack and, hopefully, Ella to sleep. After a quick kiss over their children's head, they too snuggled down into the sheets, their arms wrapping around the two small bodies between them.

"Mama," Jack's sleepy voice whispered into the room a few minutes later.

"Yes, baby," the amused smile was evident in her tone.

"I like our family just the way it is. And, I don't care that Ella and I don't have the same blood; I'll always pick her over my friends."

Nancy curled ever closer to her children as Phil's finger intertwined with hers, "I know you, baby. I know."

Truly that was all they could hope for as their children grew.


	9. 102 Signals Good

_Ma, when's dinner._ Jack signed after lightly tapping her on the shoulder to get her attention.

Smiling, Nancy signed back, _Hungry?_ At his nod, she continued, _It will be ready in about ten minutes. Go get Papa and Ella and get cleaned up. Okay?_

Nancy shook her head with a slight smile as she watched Jack scurry off to find his father and sister. At fourteen he was growing faster than she imagined possible; he was nearing six feet and seemed to grow out of his pants and shoes on a weekly basis. Besides watching him grow taller and stronger, Nancy was just waiting for the other shoe to drop. She was waiting for him to turn into the awful terrible teenager that other parents had warned her about, but so far he showed no signs of that. She was grateful, but sometimes she was amazed that he was still willing to do family things.

Like tonight.

When Ella was about two years old, one of the counselors that was working with the family had suggested 'silent nights'. This was one night a week were the family would communicate solely through sign; no talking. If they wanted to watch TV or a movie, it had to be done with the sound muted and closed captioning on. If they wanted to play a game, everything had to be done silently. Phones were to be turned off and only used for emergencies. It was hard at first. One of them would slip and vocalize something or turn on a radio or TV without thinking. Slowly, it became easier and easier to go a night in complete silence and they found themselves having to remember that they could talk on regular nights.

When Jack hit high school, both Nancy and Phil had expected him to start finding more and more excuses why he couldn't be there on family nights or 'silent' nights. Instead, he was carefully about scheduling activities so that the four nights a week Nancy and Phil's shift schedules allowed them both to be home for dinner he was there as well. And he still seemed to look forward to their 'silent' nights, but when he'd made the basketball team he had asked that they be moved from Friday to Wednesday so that he could hear them cheering from the stands. Neither of them objected in the least.

Nancy was broken from her thoughts when Jack and Ella came skittering into the room. They both presented their hands front and back.

_All clean, Mama. Can we eat now,_ Ella signed rapidly after the inspection was over.

_As soon as you and Jacky set the table,_ Nancy signed back.

Even as her smiled increased watching the children clamoring to get the table set, Nancy could feel a small tear escape down her cheek. This was family night… This was good.


	10. 1044 Meal

"So, Hot Shot," Anthony 'Tony' DiNozzo, NCIS Special Agent and Jack's girlfriend's honorary big brother, leaned across the table, a predatory grin bearing his teeth, "did you see what they had by the front door?"

Even though dinner, the first that his family had ever had with his girlfriend's family, had gone really well until this point, Jack felt a nervous tickle across the back of his neck, "No, sir."

Tony rolled his eyes and leaned back in his chair, "Em, tell your boyfriend that I'm not 105 and I'm not a sir."

"Jacky, Tony hates being called sir and he's not that old… just about 95," Emily Gibbs, Jack's 14-year-old girlfriend, giggled and poked her tongue out at Tony.

"Can I get love from no one," Tony lamented with thrown up arms.

A chorus of no's echoed around the table from Emily's friends and family.

Once the laughter from both families had died down, Jack smiled shyly at the older man, "What do they have by the front door, Agent DiNozzo?"

The predatory grin reappeared, "It's Tony and they've got a 'ShootOut' machine. You proved you got good moves on the court. What to prove you got the shot, too?"

"Bring it, Old Timer," Jack grin matched Tony's.

"Oh, you are going down." Tony turned to the girls at the table: Emily; Maddie Tyler, Tony's girlfriend and Emily's honorary big sister; Annie Diaz-Fornell, Emily's best friend and quasi-step-sister; and Ella Brander. "We need cheerleaders."

Emily shook her head, "I'll come with you guys, but Annie and I are playing 'Out Run.' I know better than to cheer for either of you."

"Chicken," Tony winked and Emily bawked once in reply.

Laughing, Maddie patted Tony's cheek, "Don't worry, I'll cheer for you and Ella can cheer for Jack." Turning to Ella, Maddie carefully and slowly used the signs that Emily had been teaching her, iE-L-L-A, play?/i

Ella turned bright and hopeful eyes to her parents, who nodded their consent, and then raised her arms to let Maddie pick her up and swing her onto her hip.

Soon the 'kids' were all moving away from the table and towards the game area of the restaurant, but Emily's father, NCIS Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs, called Tony back. Gibbs was fishing money out of his wallet, but Tony just shook his head.

"Hey, you paid for dinner, or you're going to pay for dinner, I'll get the entertainment. No biggie," Tony jogged away to catch up with the others.

With the kids now gone from the table a slight awkward silence fell over the three sets of parents that remained. Finally, Abigail 'Abby' Scuito, Emily's step-mom and an NCIS Forensic Scientist, spoke up, "Come on, this should be easy. We're all in law enforcement and we've all got kids. There should be five million things for us to talk about."

With a slight couch, Phil started, "Mind if I ask a… well a personal question?"

"You can ask it," Gibbs' blue turned on Phil's grey ones, "doesn't mean we'll answer it."

Phil nodded, "Understood. Why does Emily call Agent Fornell Papi, if Mrs. Fornell isn't her mother?"

Abby laughed, "Oh, you asked a good one. Try and keep this all straight; there will be a test afterwards."

"Well," Gibbs, who normally hated talking about his personal life, let out a breath, "after my third wife, Emily's mom, and I got divorced, she became Tobias's first wife. Em was just a tiny thing at the time and since she lived with Diane and Tobias, she pretty much figured she had two dads. I never figured there was any reason to stop her thinking that way, since Tobias and I are good friends."

"Okay, but where is Emily's mother," Nancy asked, still pretty much confused.

Fornell took up the narrative, "What Jethro failed to mention was that Diane passed away when Emily was five years old. If it hadn't been for the cancer, we would have been divorced, but Jethro didn't want to take anyone else away from Em when she was that young."

"So, you've…" Phil trailed off completely unsure of what to say.

Abby laughed again, "They've been co-parenting. Not that they would ever admit it. Emily spends one week a month and every other weekend with Tobias and Estacia."

"And Annie spends one week a month and every other weekend with Jethro and Abby," Estacia Diaz-Fornell, Annie's adoptive mom and Tobias's second wife explained. "If you ask either of the girls, they'll tell you that they have two sets of parents. It's all terrible complicated, but also completely simple."

Nancy laughed, "Sounds it. No wonder Jacky and Emily found each other. Their families are both completely crazy."

"You're family seems completely normal compared to us," Fornell pointed out.

"Well, maybe the nucleus, but the rest is just as crazy." Nancy sighed slightly, "Ella was five when she realized that the Chief of Metro Police wasn't her actual grandfather."

"Mannion," Gibbs asked. At Nancy and Phil's nodded, he smiled slightly, "The man's insane, but a damn good cop. You obviously know him well."

Nancy smiled and leaned forward, "We both worked directly under him for awhile. When we got married, Phil transferred, but I still work for the Chief. He's been a second father to both of us. And, yes, he is somewhat insane…"

Almost two hours later, when the kids stumbled back from blowing 100 of Tony's money on video games and the photo booth, the parents were still laughing and exchanging war stories of law enforcement and raising teenagers.


	11. 1043 Additional Information

The sprawling oak tree provided enough dabbled shade that Jack Brander was able to find some relief from the Indian summer heat of the fall day as he waited. The sounds of the Varsity girls' soccer practice wafted along the gentle breeze and Jack smiled at the sound of his girlfriend's normally sweet, timid voice taking a hard and commanding tone as she directed a drill. Emily was only sixteen, the youngest member of the Varsity team and basically two years his junior, but she had been on the team since her freshman year and it was on the soccer field that he'd first saw her. He had never told her, but he had been completely and utterly smitten. She was playing the last quarter of a game with their rival high school; she had been playing extremely aggressively and her blond hair was plastered to her face and neck, her fair skin was flushed red, and she looked ready to bite off someone's head. He had spent the next two days trying to find out everything about her, when he walked into his sign language class and found her, looking soft and fresh and demur, signing with the teacher.

It had been the perfect 'in'. They started talking or signing between classes and when he found out that she helped with an elementary class that the teacher also taught, he volunteered as well. It took every ounce of courage, but when he found out that she went to the same CYO (Catholic Youth Organization) as a friend of his, he got himself invited. He had intended to ask her out that night, but he had been shocked to find her step-sister with her. Instead, he'd waited until the next week and asked her in a crowded hallway using ASL. He was still amazed she'd signed yes back at him. In the two years since then they had spent every minute of free time together. Their families had become close friends and they were more than boyfriend/girlfriend, they were best friends.

However, there were still some things that he never told her. Things his family shared, things his family held close to their hearts, almost secrets. As a family, they were open about Jack and Ella's adoptions and that before Ella came into their lives they had fostered other children, but they never went into details. He had never told her about the way that he had been found or the way that Ella had lost her hearing. He had never felt the need… until now.

A case of his Uncle Kevin's had brought up a lot of things he hadn't thought about until this week. His Uncle Kevin had questioned a man who claimed to recognize the picture of him that sat on Kevin's desk, claimed to be his actual biological father and reason that the man he believed to be his biological father had hated him and his biological mother. Apparently, this man wanted nothing to do with him, but he did want money. Money to not contest an adoption that he didn't care about. Money to not fight for custody that he didn't want. In three months Jack would be 18, but until then he could try to cause problems for the family and after that he could try to cause problems for Jack. After a long talk with his Uncle Mannion, the family had decided to insist on a DNA test.

The test had come back negative, but Nancy had wanted it doubled checked and legal papers drawn up that the man would have to sign, attesting that he was not Jack's legal father, had no legal right or privilege as such, and that he would not contact Jack in the future. This meant that his parents had planned to talk to Emily's 'stepmothers' that evening, since Abby, her father's live-in girlfriend, was a forensic scientist for NCIS and Estacia, her stepfather's second wife, was a family law attorney. He had decided that if they were going to know about his past then so should Emily.

Even in the shade with his eyes closed he could feel Emily's shadow falling over him. Opening his eyes, he was met by her smiling mouth and loving eyes. With a gentle pull, she was down on the ground next to him. His arms wrapped around her as her head laid on his chest. In whispers carried away with the swirling autumn leaves, he painted a picture of a little boy with a closet for a room and a little girl so small and innocent whose hearing was taken by a monster of a human being.


	12. 1063 Prepare To Make Written Copy

Phil twisted his head and stared at the… thing in front of him. He wasn't completely sure what it was supposed to be, but he could see photos of members of their family as well as their friends in handmade oddly shaped frames attached to undulating pieces of wire. When you stepped a few feet away, the wires turned into tree limbs that molded into a tree trunk, which at a distance formed a stylized picture of Ella. It was modern and not to Phil's simple tastes, but it was good and interesting.

Nancy was in awe. Ella had told her a little bit about the project when she asked for the pictures, but Nancy never expected that it would turn out like this. The sculpture was astonishing, beautiful and symbolic. Each member of their extend circle of friends and family was pictured; those close to Ella were framed to look like different kinds of green and healthy leaves and those who Ella didn't know well, like Nancy's bigoted brothers, were framed to look like insect or disease riddled leaves. Two frames that looked like dead leaves where laying on the base in these were written DNA and Nancy figured that these were supposed to represent her unknown parents. It was perfect.

"Mr. and Mrs. Brander," a young woman asked politely as she entered the room. Her golden brown hair was swept up in a bun and she wore a pencil skirt and sweater. All that was missing was a string of pearls and a pair of cat's eye glasses and she would have looked like a teacher that had stepped out the 1950's.

Smiling, Nancy turned from the sculpture and held out her hand, "Ms. Brenner, so nice to meet you. Ella really enjoys your class."

"And I enjoy having her in it," she indicated a couple of chairs for them to sit at. "Normally she is such a good and bright student."

"Normally," Phil asked sitting in one of the chairs, grateful that since Ella was now in middle school he didn't have to contort his body onto a child sized chair.

"Yes, normally. You see this semester our major project has been constructing a family tree, since we've been studying the lineages of the European royal families. Unfortunately, Ella seems to have not understood this idea at all and made an actual tree. Now, don't misunderstand me. Artistically, this is a beautiful creation and I've asked her art teacher to give her extra credit for it, not that Ella needs extra credit in art, but I just can't pass her on this project, which counts for a third of her grade," Ms. Brenner actual sounded distressed by this and her fingers signed the words jerkily, which was atypical of a teacher of the deaf.

Nancy was distressed, "What do you mean you can pass her? Not only is that beautiful, but that is a nearly perfect example of Ella's family tree."

"Mrs. Brander…"

"Is that what that supposed to be," Phil interrupted, standing and going to examine it again. "Wow, that really does demonstrate the family well."

Ms. Brenner blinked at the parents before her for several seconds, "I'm sorry. I know that Ella is adopted, obviously, but how does that demonstrate your family? I've got a couple of adopted children in this class and they all did traditional family trees with maternal and paternal branches going back several generations. With Ella's project there is little division between maternal and paternal sides, the generations are barely separated and people that are apparently not related to you are represented."

Nancy laughed, "Yup, pretty perfect representation of our family."

"Ms. Brenner," Phil returned to the chair, "you have to understand something. We aren't traditional. Except for my cousin and his family, who are on the tree, Ella doesn't know my family. I was an only child and my parents died when I was young. I lived with my aunt and uncle, but besides my cousin they are no longer a part of our lives. Ella was five or six before she realized that our boss, Chief Mannion, who she calls Papa Jack wasn't really her grandfather and that my partner, her uncle Davey, wasn't my actual brother."

"That, Ms. Brenner, is our family tree, from the twisted branches to the missing faces. I can't imagine a better illustration." Nancy pointed to a hand drawn poster with straight lines connecting boxes with names to other boxes with names until it reached the final box, "That could and would never represent our family fully or completely."

Ms. Brenner again studied the parents for a minute. Finally, she sighed, "Ella… Ella's a remarkable child and I'm a little more aware of the reasons for that now. I understand that Ella is an artist, but I'm an English teacher. It is my job to teach her grammar and form outside the system of ASL. If Ella writes a paper that thoroughly explains her sculpture and the reasoning behind, I'll be happy to pass her project."

"We'll see to you," Nancy stood and reached to shake the younger woman's hand. "Thank you, Ms. Brenner."

Ms. Brenner took Nancy's hand as she stood as well, "Thank you, Mrs. Brander. It's nice to have parents willing to work with me."

Shaking the teacher's hand as well, Phil followed his wife from the classroom. In the hallway, he wrapped an arm around Nancy's shoulders, "You get to tell Ella's got to write a paper. She's not going to be a happy girl."

"Maybe, but this way, she'll get out of taking a summer English class, which she'd really hate." Nancy wrapped an arm around Phil's waist, "I think we should think about letting her take art classes this summer. She's got a natural talent for it."

"Just as long as she doesn't expect me to understand her work."

Nancy laughed at her husband.


	13. 10100 Camera

Jack Mannion looked down at the square package that Jack Brander, who he considered his oldest grandchild, handed him, "What is it?"

"Open it and see, Grap," Jack smiled with a small roll of his eyes.

"You know me," Mannion smiled as he slowly began removing the blue and silver wrapping paper, "I never like to take the easy way to solve a mystery."

Jack just shook his head as he waited for Mannion to reveal his gift.

When the elder Jack finally revealed the photo, his breath caught. It was a composite photograph that seamlessly blended together to create on incredible image. In the center stood Jack Mannion in his typical suit and wide 1940's tie; around him standing and seated where the officers closest to him. His ex-wife Sherry and daughter Beth flanked him on either side. Besides and behind Sherry were Kevin Debrino and Temple Page, while besides and behind Beth were Nancy and Phil Brander. In front of and to the sides of Jack sat Ray Cutter and David Davison, who was Phil's partner for years then worked for Jack until his retirement. Directly in front of Mannion sat Jack Brander. Except for Jack Mannion they all wore their dress blues and were faintly washed in blue light.

Tears shone in his eyes when he finally looked up, "How did you get this?"

"Don't ask me. Ella did it with her magic camera." Jack laughed at the astonished look on his 'Grap's' face, "Actually, she took pictures of everyone and morphed them all together on the computer. When I graduated the academy I wanted to surprise you with a picture of your favorite officers and if you'd been there for a photo session you would have known about it."

"It is amazing. Thank you, Jacky," he pulled the young man into a fierce hug.

Jack returned the hug before letting go and again indicating the framed photo, "Turn it over. You know Ella and her art, she titled this piece."

"'Blue Family Portrait by Ella Mae Brander,'" Mannion read proudly. "Someday this early stuff of hers is going to worth a fortune."

Jack rolled his eyes, "She's 15, Grap, and that's a picture of our family and friends. I don't think you can consider it a great work of art."

"Oh, yes, I can," Mannion held the photo at arm's length and smiled warmly.


	14. 1033 Assist Police Officer Emergency

**Warning:** Character Death

* * *

Kevin Debreno knew he had gotten older in the last thirty odd years. He felt it when Jack Mannion died. He felt it when his knees popped first thing in the morning. He saw it when the Grecian formula didn't cover all the grey. He saw it when he looked at the scale that tipped a little higher than ever. However, he had never felt as old as he did this week.

Sitting down next to his old friend on a couch he remembered helping them bring home, he gently pried the remote of Phil's grasp. He shut off the television, which was playing a loop of news stories about the bombing at Metro Police Headquaters.

"They keep mispronouncing her name," Phil's voice was monotone and lifeless.

Kevin's eyes squinted in confusion, "How? Nancy Brander is possibly the world's easiest name."

"No, Parras. They keep calling her Nancy Paris Brander. There's a difference."

"I know, Phil, I know," Kevin's hand rested lightly on Phil's knee. "You don't need to listen to them. You need to get some things organized. I talked to some girl with the FBI and they're going to release Nancy's body tomorrow."

"Emily."

Again Kevin blinked at his friend, "What?"

Phil turned to look at Kevin for the first time since he'd let himself in the front door, "The girl who identified Nancy is Emily Gibbs. She was Jack's first love and the girl that Nancy always wanted him to end up with. And now she had to indentify Na…" Phil just trailed off, unable to continue.

"Shit," Kevin whispered, thinking about the implication for both Phil and the young woman.

The two men sat in silence, side by side, thinking and composing themselves for several minutes. Finally, Phil was able speak again, "I don't know what to do, Kev. Part of me always knew that I could lose her to the job or to the Huntington's, but then she went into the clerical position and the treatments seemed to really be working and I thought… I thought I'd go first and I was selfish enough to want that."

"No one ever wants to be the one left behind, but someone always is. Phil, for your kids' sakes you need to be strong."

"I just don't know what to do."

"I know, but I can help with that." Kevin picked up the portfolio that he had brought in with him and laid it on the coffee table. "Remember the week before your wedding?"

Phil smiled fondly, "Vaguely."

"Well, remember when Nancy had dinner for me and the Chief at her place and you keep asking her what that was about and she kept telling you it was a surprise?"

Phil nodded, "You were planning our honeymoon trip, right?"

"No," Kevin sighed. "Nance asked us to tell you that, but honestly she asked us over to give us this."

Phil stared at the papers in his hands. Flipping slowly through them he came to the realization that what he held were Nancy's final wishes; her desires for her funeral and burial down to the clothes (her uniform of course) and her epitaph (changed to now read 'Beloved mother, wife and friend. Her love was thicker than blood'). Everything was clearly and carefully explained so that all he would have to do was hand the papers over to the funeral director. It made him sick.

"Why do you have this," Phil shook as he returned the papers to the portfolio.

"Because your wife loved and adored you." Kevin turned and sat on the coffee table so that he was eye to eye with Phil, "Nancy always believed that she would go first. She believed that her disease would eat away at her like it did her father until she wasn't the woman you married, she wasn't your… our Nancy. And she never, ever wanted to burden you with decisions when the time came. She asked the Chief and me to safe guard sections of this for her. When the Chief died last year, she revived it and gave it to me."

"But… But… But why didn't she give them to me," Phil's eyes were clouded with tears when he looked up at the man that had been so close to his wife.

Kevin rested his hands on Phil's shoulders, "Because she didn't want it lingering in this house, in your relationship. She wanted to live and love each day without worrying or making you worry about the future."

"In our wedding vows, she… she wrote that every day we had together was a gift and that she promised not to worry about the time when that gift would not be given, but to receive it each day with joy. She must have spent every day of her life wondering if it was her last."

"No, she spent every day of her life loving you and Jack and Ella."

A tear rolled down Phil's cheek, "I don't know what I'm going to do without her."

"Go on. Go on loving her and Jack and Ella. Go on to honor her and the family you created with her," Kevin pulled the larger man into an awkward hug as he began sobbing.

Together they mourned for the woman that bound them together.


	15. 1042 End Tour of Duty

**Dedication:** For **georgiamagnolia**. I was happy writing this series for myself, but her feedback and enjoyment made it 1000x's better. Love ya!

* * *

Phil stared at the flickering light of the three unity candles for Jack and Emily's wedding burning on Jack's dining room table. They needed to burn for exactly five minutes the night before, so that they would light easily and quickly for the ceremony. Phil couldn't seem to look away as they burned.

Ella has especially designed them and a friend of hers from art school had created them. Unlike most unity candles these were not pure white, nor were the individual candles single candles. Instead the candles that were to represent Emily and Jack were three separate candles braided together to create one. On each there were two white sections and one brightly colored section and each part held great symbolism. Ella explained that she had designed them to represent the family and people that Emily and Jack had come from. Each of the pure white sections stood for the parents that they had lost. For Emily they were for her mother who had died of breast cancer when she was barely five and the stepfather who had helped raised her and had been shot in an attempt on his friend's life. For Jack they were for his mothers; the one that had died trying to protect him from his father and the one that had died during a cowardly terrorist attack on Washington DC. On each the third, center brightly colored piece of wax represented the unique mixture of people that had been a part of their lives and formed their biological and spiritual families. The larger unity candle, which would be light from the smaller individual candles, was colored the same way with swirls of reds and greens and purples and blues and blacks and just about every shade in between. On the side of the unity candle "Emily and Jack" was molded in pure white.

They were beautifully and perfect for them.

Ella interrupted his study of the flickering candles as she breezed in the area and blew out the candles. Smiling up at him she signed, _You sure you like them, Daddy?_

_I love them, El. They are beautiful, but more importantly, they came from your heart. Mommy would love them._

_She'd be so happy to know that Jack and Em were getting married,_ Ella's eyes held the familiar sadness that she showed whenever she talked about her mother.

Phil pulled his daughter into a hug for several sections before her released her to sign, _I'm sure she knows and I'm sure she is very happy._ Ella nodded and brushed a tear from her eye as Phil kissed her forehead, _Where's your brother?_

Ella just pointed up and Phil nodded before taking her hand and leading her topside.

When Jack Mannion had passed away a few years before, he had surprised everyone by leaving his houseboat to Jack Brander. One of the many things that the Jacks had shared was a love of the sea and boats, and Jack wasted no time moving into the houseboat. Fortunately, the girl he was marrying had been raised by a man with a similar love of the sea and Emily was eager to live on the water. The last few months leading up to the wedding Phil had been teasing her about marrying Jack for his boat, which he knew was far from the truth.

Jack was standing in the pale light of the marina watching the rippling waves slap against the hull of the boat, lost completely in thought.

"Whatcha thinking about," Phil asked quietly to get his son's attention.

Turning, Jack signed as he spoke, "Tomorrow. I'm trying to remember everything from the rehearsal. I've got a funny feeling I'm going to mess it up."

"It won't matter," Phil also signed as he spoke. "When I married Mommy I called her Nancy Amanda in our vows."

_Wasn't Mommy's name Nancy Elizabeth,_ Ella asked.

"Yes," Phil laughed slightly. "It didn't matter though; we were still married and very happy and Mommy teased me about it for years."

"Do you think Emily and I will be as happy and you and Ma were, Pop?"

Phil moved closer to his son, "I think you will be happier."

"Thanks, Pop," Jack bent slightly to hug his father and lay his head on his father's shoulder.

Phil reached an arm out to invite Ella into the hug as well. When she snuggled against him and under her brother's arm, he gently lifted her face so that she could read his lips, "We've had a lot of changes over the years; you two coming into our lives, divided families, new friends that have become like family, losing Grandpa and Grandma, losing Uncle Temple and Grappy Jack, losing Mommy," Phil paused to swallow the lump in his throat, "now gaining Emily and her family, but one thing has remained. Us and our love. No matter what, no matter where and no matter who, we will always be family. You will both always be my kids. I will always love. Understood?"

Jack's head nodded against his shoulder and Ella buried her head into his chest as she nodded as well. Standing there holding his children, Phil Brander could have sworn the lights glowed a little brighter and the sounds grew a little dimmer. The scent of Nancy's perfume filled his senses and a sensation of two warm arms wrapped around his shoulder.

Yes, they would be family. Forever.


End file.
